


Aurora, dawn of a new age

by Nival_Vixen



Series: Short & sweet tumblr-weed [30]
Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Sleeping Beauty - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Complete, Cryogenics, F/M, Twisted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-24 18:07:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7518029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nival_Vixen/pseuds/Nival_Vixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the age of 16 in 2018, Aurora signed up for Sleep Personality Improvement and Developing Longevity Existence (SPINDLE) cryogenics program.</p><p>A hundred years later, she's woken up, and nature has taken back the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aurora, dawn of a new age

Aurora signed up for the Sleep Personality Improvement and Developing Longevity Existence (SPINDLE) cryogenics program when she was 16 in 2018. Sleeping for years had seemed perfect back then; her parents were dead, the world was falling to shit, and the smoggy atmosphere made it difficult to breathe without costly oxygen masks. Plus she'd be given a set of active mind programs that meant learning cool shit without actually needing to do anything. It had seemed too good to be true when the technicians promised she'd only be woken when the world had repaired itself.

 

A hundred years later, Aurora saw for herself that the world had done exactly that. Instead of waking to buildings and freeways ( _and at least one flying car; seriously it was 2018 and there wasn't a single flying car?!_ ), Aurora woke to forests and streams, no flying cars in sight. It wasn't all bad, though. While she'd slept, SPINDLE had kept her body free from disease and, as promised, her mind active. She missed the bubonic plague of 2025 (the result of anti-vaxxers who'd preferred that their child died rather than care for a child with mental disabilities; if they were going down, so was the rest of the world), and narrowly avoided a nuclear war thanks to the eradication of politicians in 2020.

 

As for the programs SPINDLE had added in her brain, well, Aurora didn't really know what to do with all of the new information. She'd initially chosen only a few programs that seemed interesting, but since she'd slept for so long, the technicians had decided to just keep adding new programs when her brain waves stopped fluctuating for more than a few days. Now her mind was overflowing with information and she could barely keep up, her mind desperately trying to process the information while she was awake. She had to work through a series of exercises to improve her muscle tone - cryogenics could only do so much, after all - and while Aurora instinctively knew all of the moves, her body didn't. Her trainer within the SPINDLE organisation was a man named Charming who was anything but charming. Aurora found that training with Charming was a bitch, mostly because she always seemed to end up flat on her back. Besides, Charming only ever called her sleeping beauty, which wasn't as cutesy as it sounded when coming out of his sarcastic mouth.

 

_You know how to do this, it's all there in your pretty little head, sleeping beauty. Now stop thinking and do it already!_

 

She usually went to bed sore and aching, and wishing she'd spent another hundred years sleeping just to avoid Charming.

 

Thanks to sleeping for a hundred years, Aurora couldn't physically sleep anymore. Her brain was too wired, and with all of the information she continued to process, she wasn't exactly surprised at the insomnia. Still, Aurora suffered from awful headaches every time new information was 'downloaded' into her conscious brain. The amount of information that swirled about in her mind, still trying to take purchase in her brain when it could, was definitely worthy of a headache or three. But after meeting some of the others, she knew that she had some of the milder side-effects. Owl could barely see, even with several eye surgeries (apparently when she first came out of cryo, she had been completely blind). Squirrel was, well, a little nuts. He'd been a scientist when he'd first been put in cryo, and had been put back in at least three times that Owl knew of. Squirrel could usually be found writing ineligible scribble on the walls, or hiding up in the rafters. Crow had a tic that made him jump every so often when he walked, and a motor tic that displayed when he was nervous. Aurora wasn't sure what side-effects Charming had as a result of SPINDLE. If he had any, he hid them well. (She suspected that emotional constipation was a side-effect, but no one else mentioned it.) As far as Aurora could tell, she and Charming were the most well-adjusted SPINDLE survivors.

 

SPINDLE organised to give her the latest tech module (similar, but slightly bigger than the iPhone 6), which included the futuristic version of Siri: the Godmothers. The Godmothers had three separate personalities, and each responded to Aurora's commands and requests differently. If she asked Merryweather a question, she'd usually get a snippy or sarcastic remark in return, and the answer a few minutes later when she'd practically forgotten the question itself. It was worse with Flora and Fauna, who seemed to argue over the most basic things, so Aurora tended to favour Merryweather's responses, despite the sarcasm.

 

Maleficent was the owner and founder of SPINDLE. Crow followed her around whenever she appeared, and Charming usually left around the same time. Aurora wasn't stupid (the programs in her mind were proof of that), and she asked Owl on the sly what the hell was going on between them. Owl told her that Charming had supposedly slept for a full 500 years, released only 10 years prior. Aurora thought Charming treated his cryo sleep as though it was an imprisonment rather than a gift. She really didn't get what the big deal was, and said as much. Owl looked sad as she sighed and told Aurora the tale:

 

Maleficent and Charming had been in love when they were living in their real time. Maleficent had become obsessed with cheating death, but Charming hated the idea of living forever. Maleficent created SPINDLE, and she was certain that Charming would agree with her in the future. She froze him against his will, and when he woke up, he tried to kill her twice, and when that didn't work, he tried to kill himself. That didn't work either, so now he spent all of his time training the new SPINDLE survivors so he didn't have to deal with Maleficent, who rarely left the top levels.

 

Aurora felt sick at the idea of being frozen against her will; at least she'd chosen SPINDLE for herself. Another headache hit her, fierce and nauseating, and she left to go lie down until it passed. She hoped this download would be something useful; the last three had been boring history battles. (Squirrel usually told her off for calling it a download, and went off on a scientific rant if no one stopped him. It usually ended with him climbing up into the rafters.)

 

This download was one of the largest Aurora had experienced yet, and _there_ were the martial arts moves Charming had been bitching at her about! It was about fucking time, she was sick of getting her ass kicked in training. Aurora closed her eyes and breathed as Owl had taught her, using a metronome courtesy of the Godmothers to count, and let the information flow into her brain properly.

 

About half an hour in, Aurora's eyes snapped open. She stumbled out of her bed, clutching at the chair nearby as she tried to adjust to walking and standing while still receiving a download. She made it out of her room, grabbing at the railing to get down the hallway, almost tripping into the elevator. She huddled in the corner, breathing shallowly and trying not to throw up as the bright lights totally fucked up her vision, her headache reaching epic proportions. Reaching her destination, Aurora heard Owl's screech of surprise. _If even Owl could see how bad she looked, it must be really bad,_ Aurora thought vaguely.

 

_Charming! Why the fuck are you in my head?!_

 

Charming led Owl and Squirrel out of the training area, then tugged Aurora inside and pushed her back onto a mat so she could lie flat.

 

_These were supposed to be downloaded in your dreams, you know. Insomnia wasn't a known side-effect before you, so the dreams are usually the safest bet when downloading new information. It's an easier transition between cryo and waking._

 

 _Don't let Sq-Squirrel hear you call it downloading._  Her teeth chattered. Why was she so cold?!

 

Charming smiled and covered her eyes with his large hand, his palm warm and gentle.

 

_Just concentrate on your breathing, Aurora. I'll explain when it's done._

 

Aurora closed her eyes and breathed. She felt a blanket cover her and fought off a smile at Charming being nice to her. An hour and a half passed (there were seriously a lot of fighting techniques out there!), and the download was finally finished. Aurora groaned. It looked so much easier, cooler, and less painful on The Matrix.

 

Charming was sitting against the mirror when Aurora sat up slowly, blinking in the bright light. _Feeling better?_

 

_Not really. Why the hell were you in my head?_

 

_I presume Owl told you about me and Mal? How I was put in cryo against my will and I've been awake for the last 10 years?_

 

Aurora nodded slowly.

 

_Well, for the most part that's true. Only it's not the first time Mal's woken me; this is my fourth century. She likes to wait until I get attached to someone or someone, kill it in front of me, and then put me in cryo again. The reason you saw me in your download is because I worked as a technician in the last century. Sometimes the technician images come through, because your eyes flutter when a new download is added, and even though you're in cryo, your retina still works._

 

Aurora was silent for a long moment. She asked a personal question, mostly due to curiosity but also to see if Charming would answer. _Who'd you get attached to last time?_

 

_A horse._

 

_What?_

 

_A horse is easier to let go of than a person, mostly. The last person I got attached to, Mal killed him, then his entire family, and even distant relatives just so the lineage would die out and I'd never get to see him again._

 

_Fuck me._

 

_Yeah, pretty much. At least she didn't kill an entire species of horse just because of me. C'mon, sleeping beauty, time to train._

 

Aurora sighed and stood up. Charming didn't go easy on her, but her new martial arts download made it easier to know how to block the incoming fist, knee, kick. She didn't go easy on him either, trying a combination of moves to drive him backwards. He blocked most of them easily, but at least this time he looked somewhat impressed instead of emotionally constipated. They finished training when Charming blocked Aurora's last-ditch attempt, and he sent her to the medic to get something to help her sleep. He called after her to have a shower too, and Aurora flipped him the bird as she left.

 

Weeks passed and Aurora finally started to see improvements in herself. Her muscle tone improved, her cheeks didn't look so hollow, and she actually beat Charming in training, her foot on his chest as she grinned down at him. Owl and Squirrel both cheered for her, then Charming grabbed her ankle, pulled her down, and the fight continued.

 

Eventually, Aurora's headaches lessened as the information downloads came to completion. She found that she could remember everything, even new information, much easier than she ever had a hundred years ago. Still, she didn't sleep without medicine or complete and utter exhaustion, and Aurora spent most of her time training or trying to sort through the massive wealth of knowledge inside her head. Even Squirrel's scratching marks (the ones he claimed were perfectly legible handwriting) were slowly starting to make sense.

 

To celebrate her six month cryo release, Owl and Squirrel took Aurora up to the uppermost level of SPINDLE, the top coming to a needle-like point. There was a lookout that provided enough room for three people. As she stared out at the world, the wind howling and whipping at her thin clothes, Aurora was amazed at the way mother nature had changed the world. Most buildings were covered in thorny vines, with towering trees and bushes in almost every available space. Owl said that a lot of people had died in the onset of mother nature's takeover, but now, after a hundred years, there weren't even any skeletons to prove their existence. SPINDLE had definitely kept its promise, along with other cryogenics companies, and a select few who were able to survive nature and still procreate over the years. Aurora asked Owl what had caused nature's sudden explosion, but she didn't know. Even the Godmothers were oddly silent on the topic, and the information in Aurora's brain didn't provide any insight. Which was odd, because she seemed to know everything about everything else. Now that she was thinking about it, Aurora realised that there seemed to be a gap in her knowledge, from 2030 to 2065. There were no technicians from behind her flickering eyelids, no input of knowledge, and nothing new in that thirty-five year period. Feeling a little sick at the realisation, Aurora pleaded with Owl and Squirrel to return to the lower levels.

 

She spent the rest of the week training and tried not to think about what might have happened in those thirty-five years. Objectively, Aurora knew that nature had taken over in 2033, but to not have any input for the three years prior to that, only for it to begin again promptly as the clock ticked over in 2065 was nerve-racking. Maybe there was a time delay every fifteen years? But there should have been a delay in 2078 then, and that was the year the technicians had started to add random shit to her mental playlist. Even if she thought there should have been a delay from the restart of her knowledge input, there should have been something in 2080, but yet again, the random crap loaded into her had continued. Hell, in that year, she'd been given a musical overhaul, and could now name every single composer that ever existed.

 

Aurora knew more about technology now than when she had been a 'digital native' or whatever other shitty term baby boomers thought up for kids who were born into a world of technology; like, sure, they could use it, but that didn't mean they knew the intricacies of technology or were automatic experts. Now, however, Aurora knew exactly how to use the Godmothers to her advantage. She knew how to access SPINDLE's main computer system, find her way to clearance-level information that could usually only be accessed by Maleficent herself, override the security attached, and she knew how to download it straight to the Godmothers so she could look at it for herself later. Within mere seconds of her accessing SPINDLE's computer system, Merryweather warned Aurora that she was going to be in a shit-ton of trouble for this. Aurora rolled her eyes; if they were careful, then no one would even know they were there. Later that night, Aurora read over highly classified information and spent the rest of the night in the bathroom retching.

 

Thanks to a training session with Charming, Owl, and Squirrel (sure, he was nuts, but man, could Squirrel fight), Aurora was sporting several nasty bruises when Maleficent called for her a day later. Aurora had been distracted, Crow was going off with both motor and physical tics even more than normal, and Squirrel had landed several hits that she should have been able to stop. It was her own fault, the information she knew swirling around in her mind, slotting into place in the gap between 2030 and 2033. She wished she could forget it completely. Charming had been concerned, eyes widening, but though he helped her to her feet, he pulled away from her abruptly less than a second later, when Maleficent's voice came over the PA to call for Aurora to come to her office.

 

The door to Maleficent's office slid closed behind her with a beep, which seemed far worse than a loud slam. Aurora looked at the spotless room in surprise; it was all very white and clean. From the few times she'd seen Maleficent, Aurora would have assumed dark colours and maybe a damp smell. The room itself was somewhat dark, but all of SPINDLE rooms were, thanks to the vines that covered the windows. Despite the five plant pots that sat behind Maleficent's desk, there wasn't much in the way of personality displayed in the room. Aurora wondered why Maleficent would keep the vines that had taken over the world in her office; maybe it was symbolic? Probably a power thing, she mused.

 

Maleficent looked across her desk at Aurora as if she were analysing a bug in amber. _I can see why he likes you._

 

Aurora remembered Charming's horse and the man whose entire lineage had been wiped out, and felt her heart slamming wildly in terror, beating firm against her chest. _Squirrel is nice enough, but I still don't understand what he says half of the time._

 

_I think we both know I'm not referring to Squirrel. Nor Crow, if that's your next pathetic attempt at a lie._

 

Aurora swallowed and attempted an innocent smile.

 

_I believe you're aware of the abnormalities and risks that come of cryogenics? Owl's limited vision, Squirrel's unfortunate lack of sense, Crow's tics. I myself have undergone SPINDLE's cryogenics, and have an abnormality of my own. Not quite like yours, of course, but still useful to me nonetheless._

 

Aurora was somewhat caught up with Maleficent's implication that she was changed in some way, but then her attention was redirected as the plants that were behind Maleficent grew to epic proportions, the vines reaching the ceiling and thorns growing to be as big as her head. Behind her, the door slid open with a soft beep. Owl was calling for her, concern etched in her voice, Squirrel was chattering at a high pitch, and she heard Crow's motor tic set off. Then Charming was shoved through the door, the door shutting abruptly behind him. One of the five vines slid across the room and wrapped around Charming firmly, thorns digging into his skin and the vine muffling his mouth.

 

 _Horse - man - entire lineage - dead, dead, dead._ The mantra raced through Aurora's mind, as if to forewarn her of what was to come.

 

 _Oh shit, oh shit, ohhhh shit,_ was Aurora's clever response.

 

The months of training were all that prepared her for the oncoming vine. She ducked, weaved, and made the mistake to hit it only once. Aurora had to defend herself, but the thorns were sharp and whatever Maleficent thought her 'abnormalities' were, indestructible skin definitely wasn't one of them. She was bleeding in several places before she could even get to the door. Charming's eyes were wide as he struggled to fight against the vines wrapped around him, though she could already see quite a lot of blood dripping onto the floor beneath him. The door beeped and slid open at her approach, and she tumbled back. Owl caught her, surprisingly, and set Aurora on her feet firmly.

 

_Wait until you hear the crow caw._

 

Owl's whisper didn't make any sense, but those vines continued to slither forward, some dripping with blood. Aurora set her feet, brought up her hands, and fought. She wanted to believe that the world stopped, that everything became easy in that moment, but it didn't. While she did fight on instinct and muscle memory, flashes of her training with Charming helping with every movement, she was still in pain and sore. Her muscles groaned, her body cried out, and she focused so hard on the vines that her eyes ached. She grabbed one of the vines, trying to ignore the pain as thorns dug into her palms, and kicked it firmly, grateful she was wearing thick boots to protect her feet. The vine withered at her attack, shrinking back to its normal size. Emboldened, Aurora grabbed the next one and did the same, stomping on it just to be certain at its demise. She heard Maleficent gasping somewhere behind the last two vines. Aurora wasn't sure she could handle the next attack, considering her hands were already torn to shreds. She was going to throw up about that later, but for now, another vine raced towards her.

 

_I know what you did, Maleficent!_

 

Her words actually stopped Squirrel's fearful chattering, and silence fell for a moment. She could hear Maleficent wheezing, trying to draw in breath from whatever damage was inflicted on her body from Aurora's attack on the vines.

 

_You stupid girl! You don't know anything._

 

_You told me yourself you've been through SPINDLE's cryogenics program. Not really a surprise, since both you and Charming are alive when you were born in the early 1800's. You always put yourself to sleep soon after Charming, then set yourself to wake up a few years before him, but in 2030 there were complications due to the environment and complete lack of oxygen. You found you could control plants due to your post-cryo abnormality, demonstrated your ability to various stakeholders in SPINDLE and outlined your plan. Most disagreed, so you killed them all. Then you used your plants to take over the world. Within three years, you'd killed everyone that couldn't pay you to stay alive, or who were already in cryo._

 

Squirrel launched past Aurora, landing on a vine and shredding it to pieces. She thought she heard him mention something about a family, about them waking up mere years before he had first woken in 2038, only to discover that all of his family had died in nature's takeover. The fourth vine was destroyed by Owl, though Aurora doubted she'd ever see again. Maleficent was on her hands and knees, her wheezing sounding like internal damage now, and Aurora stalked forward in the brightly-lit room. The green haze on the windows were gone, the vines shrinking down to allow sunlight through. Maleficent was struggling to breathe, looked ready to drop at the meekest wind, but behind Aurora she could still hear Charming gasping and struggling, and if the final vine had enough energy to harm him, then it still wasn't enough. Aurora heard Crow's motor tic set off, and after taking a deep breath, she snapped Maleficent's neck.

 

Charming fell to the ground, bloody and broken, Owl was crying about her eyes, Squirrel had taken off and was probably in the rafters somewhere, and Crow was bawling over Maleficent. Aurora didn't feel 100 percent either ( _fuck, at the moment, she was bordering on, like, 35 percent, if that_ ), her vision going hazy as she decided to give in to the overwhelming pain. She heard Squirrel return with several medics, and felt herself being moved to the medic bay.

 

When she woke up, Aurora would unlock all of the cryo chambers, organise other cryogenic companies to do the same now that they were no longer being led, trapped, or coerced by Maleficent. The world would start anew, and with more than 80 percent of cryo survivors showing abnormalities, so would the human race itself.

**Author's Note:**

> Available on my [Tumblr](http://nivalvixen.tumblr.com/post/147581555647/twisted-fairy-tales-aurora-dawn-of-a-new-age)


End file.
